i suppose the appeal of this bar is that you get four candies in one: vanilla, fudge, peanut butter and caramel. i like the sound of that. the taste of it is not as exciting. first of all, the chocolate here tastes sort of...chalky. or powdery, like powdered milk. that's kind of gross. then there's the filling. the caramel wasn't bad, it was gooey which i like and the flavor wasn't too sweet. i'm not a huge fan of vanilla creams in general, but this tastes almost like frosting. very, very sweet. the peanut butter was the biggest surprise, it was gooey like the caramel, but with a hint of peanut butter. and i loved it. then the fudge came along and crapped in my mouth. it was stiff and way too sugary sweet. strange how they made two out of four so good. ah well, i guess i'll just have to keep buying all of my candy bars separately. what a pity.
rating: 4
right off the bat let me say that this picture is stolen. but i just had a crappy looking candy bar and this picture was already on the internet, so i am using it. if you have a problem, shut up. so, this is part of the Russell Stover Private Reserve line, which includes such flavors as triple chocolate mousse and mocha ganache. there are also the Private Reserve Origin Select bars made of 60% cacao dark chocolate from different countries. when it comes to filled chocolates, vanilla is definitely my last choice, however i had no choices except this because i took it off of someone's desk. yes, i stole candy so that i could review it, and then i stole the picture of the stolen candy. this is a multiple misdemeanor review. so, upon first encounter with the chocolate itself, i am not very impressed, nor am i disgusted. this bar was probably not the freshest, the chocolate had started to bloom, but it also got smashed a little and maybe melted. i don't treat my stolen goods right, they aren't mine anyway. the 70% cacao dark chocolate tasted more like milk chocolate to me, but that could have been the vanilla mingling with it, it was definitely sweeter than i was expecting. the cream itself was pretty good, it wasn't too runny or too crumbly, very milky. i would probably like these in some of the other flavors, but vanilla just isn't my bag.
